Hey everyone,

I have a UK spec 07 Jazz GD. A few months ago I fitted a set of coilovers.

I've since noticed a strange sound, from under the bonnet (or hood), it seems as the car steers from side to side, the suspension top mounts shift left and right, as well as tilting side to side and lifting up and down.

I think it might be because I no longer have the rubber mounts which sit between the top mount and the body of the car, they were quite badly perished so I just took them out.

Is removing those rubber things whats causing this sound and movement?

Thanks all,

Jack

 

If the rubber mounts were perished and you removed them, what were they replaced with? You need to have a fully assembled mount of some type. When they were installed, the stock rubber strut mounts are a good possibility of your concerns. You may also have a ball joint failing, tough to chair diagnose for certain though, that's up to you or your mechanic. Cusco makes solid top mounts that eradicate that rubber degradation and motion. If you're ever uncertain of what's going on, stick a camera under the hood and go drive around. There are videos online from the VW crowd of stock rubber upper mount dynamic motion, may be worth a clue for what you're looking at. Yes, Mk IV VW strut mounts are an identical design as to what is on our GD Fit (Jazz). Good luck.

 

Thanks for your reply. This is the rubber thing I'm on about.


They slip around the metal top of the sturt that sits inside of the engine bay. The red circled areas: (not my car but shows what I mean)


So basically, I'm wondering if the removal of those rubber dust cover type things would cause what I'm experiencing. I'll also take a look at the ball joints and see if they ate failing. Its currently on 106k miles so wouldn't surprise me!

Thanks for the help!

Jack

 

Oh wow... Yeah, that's a problem! Those upper parts are the strut retaining hats. They keep the strut located tightly to the body during rebound so that the strut mount doesn't leave position and knock around. IMO buy the whole strut mount kit and replace it all. If the top hats are that far gone I can only imagine how the bottom mounts are doing. Fixing it may not solve all of your problems but starting with what's obvious and working from there is a good plan.

 

Okay, well I'm glad I know what the issue is!

I'm gonna take a look today and see what I can do. I still have one of the rubber covers, so I'll remove the metal hate and wrap it back around it, and see how it does on a test drive.

thanks for your help!

Jack

 

So I fitted the rubber ring back on the N/S suspension top and its stopped making the horific noise and clunking. So I need to get myself another one at some point.

I also checked all the bushes around the bottom and everything steering wise, and from what I can tell its solid so no worries there.